


White Noise (The Occult)

by Murder_Media



Series: GoreGrind '97 [5]
Category: BlazBlue
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Blood and Violence, F/M, Mild Gore, Obsession, Occult, Stalking, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 15:18:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16537106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murder_Media/pseuds/Murder_Media





	1. Chapter 1

Everyday was the same, humdrum shit life.

It was the same shit job, the same shit kids, the same shit boss, the same shit everything. She sometimes wondered if life was honestly attempting to give her a wake up call to off herself already, but the few aspirations and dreams she had that she was so close to getting was what was really keeping herself from jumping into the first bus she saw.

Kokonoe sat indignantly at her desk as she passively sipped at a cup of saccharine coffee and regarded the massive amounts of unmarked tests and assignments that have begun to pile up over the past week while shooting the occasional death glare to the silent class that sat pensively in their seats. They have just recently finished a midterm earlier on in the week and Kokonoe can quite literally smell the nervousness and anxiety from their sweat alone, and they had a right to be. She was notorious around the school for having rather hard exams, and thus a low student turnout, but she didn't care. If you're a dumbass and join this class, expect to fail and fail hard, was her motto.

She grumbled something indistinct under her breath as she quickly moved the pen in her hand across an ungraded exam as thoroughly and as quickly as possible before moving onto the next paper just as swiftly. Being an advanced chemistry teacher for a bunch of ass kissing, overachieving, shit kicker kids was never the job she hoped to get before moving on to bigger and better things. Extra credit this, less homework that, confiscating phones, and trying not to curse out the next brat who wants to complain about a grade change was eating away at her like mad. Often times she thought about how easy life would be for a bit if she "accidentally" left some gas on during a lab experiment, but fuck did she need the money, and killing a bunch of teenagers wouldn't look good on a resume.

Sure, her way of thinking was cynical and downright morbid to anyone who dared to peer into her dark little head, but she was sure any teacher who worked at some run of the mill public school for forty hours every week would think the same if they had far more better things to do with their time.

With a drawn out sigh and a crack of her knuckles, Kokonoe tossed the pen she had on her desk before peering up at the clock behind her. Nearly half past two, it read, and how fortunate was it that she was able to grade her entire class' exams before the school day ended. Shame she had four more classes back at home for her waiting to be graded, but she's gotten use to the work load at this point.

Kicking her feet up and folding her hands over her stomach, Kokonoe cleared her throat to get her class's attention before opening her mouth to speak.

"I'm done scoring just about all of you guys' work for the semester." She began as she rested her head back against her chair. "Not much to say besides better luck next quarter."

She heard the entire room collectively groan in unison at her words before they began whispering their potential grades to each other in fear. They knew how hard her class was, but she herself never knew why they acted so surprised whenever they got a bad grade. It was so idiotic, she thought.

One student somewhere in the back raised their hand and waved it frantically.

Not even looking, Kokonoe acknowledged the student while making a displeased noise.

"Yes, you in the last row?"

"What exactly was the highest grade in class, Professor Mercury?"

The teacher hummed in contemplation before giving her answer.

"Probably an 86."

That's when the class really started to get loud and made the teacher's eyebrow twitch. Props to the one sucker who got it, but if it meant giving them all 86's to keep them quiet for the next five minutes of class, she would for her own sanity. She could hardly wait for the earful she'll get from them tomorrow about how they did and what they could do to fix their crap grades.

"If you're all done whining about your test," Kokonoe grumbled as she tried to diffuse the situation. "I'd like your homework on my desk before you leave ASAP. Maybe if about half of you got at least a third of the questions correct, I'll consider putting it as extra credit."

She hated giving extra credit, but it would be necessary in this case so she could avoid being nagged to death all day tomorrow. She was gonna grade it anyway so not like it was a total waste of her time.

She heard her students sigh in minor relief and continued their idle chatter but a little more quietly while Kokonoe closed her eyes to allow herself the chance to relax for a bit until she heard the final bell for the day ring and all the kids clamor over each other to put their work on her desk. The professor still kept her eyes closed as they piled paper after paper in front of her, rambling away about how good or bad their report cards will be until they all finally dashed out the room and left their teacher alone.

After a few moments of collecting her thoughts and mustering up the strength to get out her chair, Kokonoe put her feet back on the floor and rubbed the grit out of her eyes before getting up and grabbing her things. She quickly stuffed her papers and documents into her oversized messenger bag before grabbing her coffee and chugging it halfway down, her stomach grumbling in response to the lack of food she didn't bring with her today. She can already hear the wondrous call of the local bakery calling her name when she felt how hungry she was, and who was she to deny herself of such wondrous temptation? Another stressful day called for some sugary sweets to recharge her batteries.

Brushing off her jeans, Kokonoe bolted to the door of the classroom to switch off the light and exit out into the hallway, but cursed loudly when she nearly ran into an obnoxiously huge chest of biblical proportions once she stepped past the door.

Suffice to say she knew exactly who it belonged to.

"Fuckin' hell...!" Kokonoe quickly stomped passed the woman in question and sent her a glare. "How about putting those things away for a change, eh, Litchi?".

"Oh, my apologies, Professor!" The older woman gasped and placed a hand over her mouth shyly. "I was just coming in to see how you were doing!"

Kokonoe narrowed her eyes her way but didn't care to stay annoyed for long. This lady was Miss Faye Ling, a health and wellness teacher who all the students affectionately called "Miss Litchi" since she preferred it that way. She was essentially the bubbly antithesis to Kokonoe's more indolent personality due to her motherly behavior, soft approach and popularity among the students and staff. She had the approval of nearly everyone in the school and got along almost too well with the teachers, but always found time to check up on her for some odd reason. Kokonoe didn't really mind since her visits were short and brief, but God did her tits and voice annoy her when she got too talkative.

Especially those fuckin' tits...

"Whatever..." Kokonoe trudged past Litchi and hoisted the strap of her bag further up her shoulder. "Don't you have anything better to do than coming to see me?"

"I came to fetch you, is all." Litchi wasted no time following after her and kept that same smile on her face. "Did you forget what today is?"

"Probably." Kokonoe deadpanned. "As soon as that bell rings, any and all school related activity can kiss my ass."

Litchi giggled a little nervously at her colleague's crassness and continued. "The science department is having a meeting today." She explained further. "I know you never like them and all, but I think it's important that you come to this one. They're going to be talking about funding."

The younger woman's ears twitched at that. The science department of the school was already knee deep in new repairs and equipment with enough money to purchase two new laboratories, so it seemed odd to have a meeting about funding of all things. Isn't like it could lose the dough it already has since it's so big unless they're doing budget cuts, but those big wigs weren't dumb enough to propose that idea.

Nevertheless, Kokonoe still couldn't honestly find the will to care much about a single meeting. She's missed enough that her presence in of itself would be odd to anyone there unless she had some sort of gain from it, so best to brush it off for now.

"Funding, huh? Sounds like no better way to waste my time...Besides, I have work to do."

"Oh that's right! Midterms for all the science classes were this week, correct?" Litchi asked.

"You should know. You're one of them." Kokonoe groused.

"I had already given my classes their tests about two weeks in advance." The teacher declared. "I felt like they needed the free time this week to study since the rest of you science big heads give them such a hard time!" She joked merrily.

That comment made the young professor's mouth curl up into a sardonic sneer. Of course she would be so gracious as to do that for her students, she thought bitterly. If she didn't know any better, Kokonoe would've sworn that Litchi just loved to fuckin' show off how much of a great person she was.

"These kids don't deserve the gratitude." Was all Kokonoe said. "All they do is keep me away from shit that really matters. I can't be marking exams all week when I have other crap to get outta the way."

"What else are you doing besides grades, Professor?" Litchi inquired innocently.

Kokonoe briefly considered telling her peer her plans for the future but just as quickly decided against it. Her haste in leaving the school was because she considered this place a mere stepping stone for her future as an actual head scientist in an actual research facility than a rinky-dink chemist making sparklers out of magnesium. She just needed to get some extra money to move out of here and head out to the best residency she could find. Her ten plus years of university and degrees is  **not**  gonna go to waste by stopping here, and like hell is anyone going to convince her otherwise.

Which is why if she told Litchi about her plans, she would probably try pathetically to get her to teach here still. Seriously, what does this chick see in her?

"I have some personal projects to get done by the end of the season." The scientist lied. "It's been bugging me all year."

Litchi seemed to visibly perk up at the revelation. "I didn't know you did projects at home as well, Professor! Someone who is so in tune with physics and quantum mechanics and the likes, I bet you have loads and loads of theories, and paperwork, and-"

Kokonoe immediately tuned Litchi out once she began to go on and on about how great she was as they rounded a corner, too irritated to notice the commotion of teenagers bustling the halls and staying affixed to their lockers to be bother by it. Why doesn't she just put a sock in it already?

Litchi continued to ramble on and on with little indication that she was going to stop until the two women began to pass by a group of rambunctious boys and a few girls who clamored around the left side of their lockers and was making a ruckus. Rackets like these were far from uncommon, especially during dismissal time, but Kokonoe was more than sure that they were probably being louder than the rest of the kids here, and that was saying something.

"My those kids are quite rowdy, aren't they?" Litchi inquired. "A lot more rowdier than usual."

"Jesus, can't they keep it the fuck down for a change?" The scientist cursed. "Or better yet bring it outside. I don't see why they always lose their damn minds at this time."

Both teachers stayed silent for a time to watch the kids from the corner of their eye and get a good look at their faces as they proceeded to walk past them. It was nothing but the same posse of young wannabe thugs and rappers that they both always saw roaming the halls all day instead of attending any classes, which prompted Kokonoe to shove her way through the teenagers already in the hallway to finally get to her car. She was thoroughly convinced that there was nothing new to see or care about for that matter since it was the same shit as always until she saw a face among the noisy group she had not expected to see today.

He stood against a locker with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a sling bag over his chest, too busy cracking jokes and making conversation with this charismatic grin of his to pay attention to her or Litchi. From a distance he looked like an average high schooler, but up close his presence stuck out like a sore thumb to both Kokonoe and the kids he chatted with.

His hair was black and wild, his face long and angular while his body was tall, large and very muscular, his biceps and pecs very much visible under the form-fitting wool sweater he was clad in. To most, including her, he could be considered objectively attractive, which was a rare find indeed considering he looked way older than he should be compared to the other kids.

But he was still a massive punk to Kokonoe.

Litchi was the first to notice Kokonoe's pensive glare directed at the group and looked down at her in concern. "Is something the matter, Professor?" She asked.

Kokonoe resisted the urge to answer her for a time. She never managed to catch his name since she was in such a hurry to get to class at the time, but the brief interaction she had with him wasn't exactly the best thing to happen to her that week. His face was already well known throughout the school among the students and staff for better or for worse despite how he was new last time she checked, and he had gotten in a few fights with some kids over his popularity unsurprisingly.

And one of those fights she had to fucking break up just to get through the hallway.

It was a minor altercation that hadn't lasted long anyway since she stepped in, and had ordered the both of them to go to the principal's office since it was basic protocol to do so when kids got like this, and was gonna leave it at that, until that kid had decided to open his fresh little mouth to get her to let them off the hook.

" _Principal's office is a bit harsh, don't you think? I know you want me outta your hair and all, but a cute girl like you and pretty lips like those shouldn't get all pouty at a bunch of kids goofing off, yeah~? It certainly ain't a look that fits you."_

Of course say she had a few words to say to him.

" _If you don't get out of my face in the next five seconds, you're gonna have a lot more to worry about than a trip to the principal, do you understand?"_

His expression after that was more shock than any sort of fear like she usually got, but at least she got her point across.

"Professor?" Litchi said again.

The scientist wrinkled her nose and conceded to Litchi's question.

"Saw some punk kid who got in a fight with someone that I had to break up." She explained. "He's a real "ladies man"."

The older woman peered over at the group and blinked. "Oh him? You met before?"

"Unfortunately." She grumbled.

"I believe he is a transfer student if I remember correctly. He takes a class of mine." Litchi nodded and placed a finger on her chin. "He's a natural born charmer for sure, but he can be a little bold when it comes to older women..." The teacher grimaced when she recalled the few times the young man had decided to come onto her as well.

"He's the furthest thing from a charmer..." Kokonoe said to herself when she tried making a beeline towards the school exit when it came near but stopped when he heard that kid's voice call out her way.

"Hey, teach!"

She resisted the urge to turn around and continued to walk the other way.

"Aw, don't play hard to get!"

Litchi suppressed a giggle. "I wouldn't think he would take such a liking to you... B-But that still doesn't give him the right to talk to you that way!"

Kokonoe said nothing and peered over her shoulder to grant him the slightest bit of acknowledgement which did little to quiet him down or the laughing goons around him.

"Keeping outta trouble just like you want me to, teach. I promise~" He said aloud.

The professor shot him a black look that shut everyone up except for him who just seemed to smirk harder at her attention. She merely turned the other cheek in response and walked faster towards the exit doors before pushing through them once she was near. She better not see that fucker in the hallways ever again as long as she's working here. Kicking a student's teeth in for flirting wouldn't look good for her in the future or on her still clean criminal record.

"Wait, Professor!" Litchi yelled out when she finally caught up with her. "My, you walk fast... Where are you about to go now?"

"I'm going home." Kokonoe stated bluntly. "Have fun inside."

"Are you positive you don't want to go to the meeting?" Litchi asked again. "Or did that boy bother you too much to even consider it? Because if so, I'll-"

"I could give a rat's ass about what that little shit thinks." She interrupted. "As for the meeting, I wasn't gonna go in anyway. You can talk my ear off about it tomorrow."

"Well if you say so... I would've thought you would be the slightest bit interested." Litchi pouted at her bluntness but managed to smile nonetheless. "But alright then, Professor. I'll see you tomorrow!" She gave a friendly wave that Kokonoe rolled her eyes at.

"Yeah, yeah..." She gave a curt one of her own as she walked off onto the main sidewalk and drank the rest of her coffee before throwing the empty cup somewhere on the ground. The scientist muttered an expletive under her breath as she shuffled over to where the teacher's parking lot was located before pulling out a pair of jingling keys from her pocket.

The sooner she made it to her car, the sooner she can get her snacks for the day in her stomach to give her the rush she needed to finish as much work as possible. She needed the sugar, but she wouldn't be surprised if she winded up knocking out halfway through. Time could only tell of course.

Though sometimes she did wish that she never had to wake up again whenever she  **did**  crash from exhaustion.

* * *

The ride from the school to the bakery had not taken long at all considering how it was just a three minute drive from the building, but boy did it feel longer than that. It was around this time that rush hour reared its ugly head and caused a significant amount of traffic to fuck up everyone's mood and time. Honestly she would've been better off walking the twenty minutes it took to get here if it meant getting her sugar in time, but like hell she would exert the little energy she had just for some donuts.

Kokonoe yawned and walked lazily towards the counter once it was her turn in line and requested the usual from the cashier who quickly jotted down what she wanted.

"I need two dozen assorted and make it snappy." She quickly said before moving over to a chair near an adjacent table to sit down in. She watched the cashier finish up her order and rush into the back of the bakery to give it to whatever patissier was back there before he returned to the register. She always got big orders from this place since she always ate so many sweets in just a few days, so they knew exactly what she wanted and how soon she wanted it, or else face the consequences. She knew how much of a bitch she could be, but that didn't stop her from using it to her advantage sometimes.

"If I ain't out of here in the next ten minutes, I'll just get a shake from a burger joint..." She mumbled to herself, ignoring the noises around her in favor of taking out of her phone and fiddling with that. Time seemed to fly for the young teacher the longer she sat there, too preoccupied with whatever game she was playing to notice the bell of the bakery's door ring as another customer walked inside. She continued tuning out the world around her instead, her mind too busy and yet too tired to care about anything else except for the small screen in front of her until she heard a boastful, flirty voice from behind her call her name and make her jump from her seat.

"Well isn't this a sight for sore eyes. Didn't think I would be seeing you here, miss~"

Kokonoe spun her body around to peer up at the owner of the teasing voice who dared to get her attention and immediately scowled when she saw who it belonged to. It was that dumb kid from earlier with that same dumb smile who grinned down eagerly at her without a care in the world. How the hell did he follow her over here so quick? Did he have a car and drive here? Did he walk and just happen to stop on the way over for a snack? Both seemed implausible considering the time it took to get here by foot and the traffic that ravished the streets outside, but Kokonoe was way too exhausted and annoyed to think about anything other than getting this fucker out of her face as soon as possible.

"Look..." She stood up and pointed an accusing finger his way. "You better have a right good excuse for talking to me again, and believe me, now that we're not in school, I will not hesitate to knock your head off if need be."

"Woah, woah there, teach. I'm not here to fight ya." He reassured. "I just came to get something sweet to eat is all."

"You don't seem to be the type who hangs around bakeries." She grimaced.

"I wouldn't peg you either, teach, but who am I to complain? I'll come down here everyday if it means meeting up with cuties like you." He ignored the growing anger on her face and instead held his hand out to her. "I never got yours, but my name's Kagura. Kagura Mutsuki."

"Pleasure is mine." She said sarcastically.

"Mind tellin' me yours then?" He asked.

"You're not my student and neither are you anything I wanna be involved with."

"Ohhh, that fiery attitude and that icy stare you're givin' me is more of a treat than a deterrent, miss. In fact, I like it a lot~"

"I'll kick your ass six ways from Sunday if you don't shut that trap of yours, asshole." She hissed. "You're not getting my name."

"Playing so hard to get." He sighed playfully. "But I like that about my women. Alright then, you don't gotta tell me. How about you let me guess it then?"

"Guess all you want," She waved him off and walked in front of him to wait by the counter again. "You're never gonna get it even if you tried."

"You'd be surprised by what I'm capable of, miss." He flipped his hair as he wandered next to her. "I can tell exactly who and what a person is and what they're feeling just by lookin' at 'em. Think I wouldn't be able to read you, teach?"

"You of all people would never be able to." She scoffed once more and stared at him from the corner of her eye. "Young, dumb, and restless little shits like you would never be able to tell what an adult has to go through."

"That's what you think, huh? More stoic than I took you for." Kagura was visibly growing more and more amused by the second and began inspecting Kokonoe from head to toe. "Long salmon pink hair... peach skin...honey gold eyes...a small chest, but...what you lack up there you certainly make up for downstairs."

Kokonoe's eyes widened at that last part and almost immediately tried slamming the toe of her boot in Kagura's shin which he had barely managed to dodge in time.

"And that same fiery temper I'm coming to love so much."

"Shut the hell up!" She tried suppressing the blush slowly bleeding into her cheeks from her own embarrassment and glared daggers at him. "What are you even getting at!?"

"What I said so before." The teenager crossed his arms and gave her a knowing look. "Just by looking at you, I can tell what you are, who you are, and what you're thinking of. Right now, maybe a little flabbergasted, but before you thought of me as any other punk kid, yeah?"

"What makes you think I still don't see you as just that?"

"Well now you dunno what to think. You may think I'm a punk still, but you're very unclear as to what else I might say. But relax, I won't say anything to upset you like that if it means keeping my nads where God intended them to be." He joked.

"Whatever, just hurry this charade along." Kokonoe's patience was reaching a boiling point.

Kagura's smile was still unfaltering. He really knew how to push a chick's buttons.

"You gotta pretty face and gorgeous body, but you aren't as prim and proper as most girls. Dark lines under your eyes, no makeup, and jewelry. You don't care to be seen and don't wanna be seen." He continued. "You have more of a bigger goal in mind than lookin' pretty, yeah?"

The older woman hesitated to give him a response but conceded to his guess since it was only a small one. "Yes, I do. I don't care for fashion."

"Fashion, friends, or even a social life for that matter. I guess that's what happens when you're so enamored with science."

"So, ha, ha, you guessed that I'm a science teacher and that I hate trends. Anymore magic tricks you got for me or are you just bullshitting me now?"

"Ah, ah, ah," Kagura wagged his finger. "You're too cynical and yet too smart to stick to a teacher's job. You got ambitions ahead of you, don't you? Probably makin' a name for yourself out in the field?"

The professor was gradually growing more interested in his observations but kept her thoughts to herself. "...Yeah. So what are you getting at?"

"Cynical yet determined, fiery and cold, cute and yet so drab. You're a rare case indeed and full of surprises, but if anything I don't think I have much else in the bank." He said bluntly. "I got the simplest parts of you down though, didn't I?"

"Bare minimum, is what I would say." She retorted.

"Bare minimum, maybe, but enough for me to guess your name, I bet~"

Kokonoe waved him off. "Try if you wanna, kid."

Kagura thought about it for a moment as if in contemplation and said his answer.

"Professor Kokonoe Mercury, advanced Chem teacher of grades 10 and up at our humble school here in the boroughs. Is that it?"

The teacher seemed stupefied for a second and blinked at the words that came out of his mouth before regaining her composure. She thought he was surely bluffing about reading people, but that guess was the farthest thing from inaccurate. She couldn't think of any other way he would know that unless he was messing with her and just knew from basic knowledge around the school, but that was almost too on the nose for him to get since he was so new.

"How...how did you even guess that?"

"You look like that would be your name." He grinned and looked down at the lanyard hanging from her neck and poked at the plastic case it was hooked onto gently. "Also says it right here on your teacher's card."

Kokonoe did a double take between him and the photo-id that rested against her chest and felt her blood boil. This fucking brat really  **was** messing with her the whole time, and damn did he get her good! No one has ever made a fool out of her, and here she was being bested by some teenager! She wanted to yell, she wanted to scream, she wanted to bite his head off, and was near ready to rear her head back and curse him out with every cuss she knew until she heard the chime of a small bell ring in her ear and the chipper voice of the cashier who rung it.

"Your order is hot and ready to go, ma'am!" The cashier said cheerfully as he slammed two large boxes of baked goods on the counter and tied a string around them to keep them together.

The scientist looked away from Kagura and to the sweets next to her, her face, once brimming with anger, slowly turning into her usual permanent scowl once she fished for the wallet in her pocket to get the money she needed to pay for her stuff. Showing how fucking  **irate**  she was would only result in him winning and like hell was she was going to give him the satisfaction. That fucker had another thing coming if he really think she was going to.

"Really funny trick you got there...!" She growled as she tried looking for some money. "And here I thought you actually had some semblance of intellect in that tiny brain of yours."

"Aw, come on, professor, you know I was just teasing." Kagura dug into his own pocket and pulled out a stack of bills. "Here, I'll make it up to you."

"What are you doing?"

"In return for giving me such a lovely name, this batch is on me." He placed the bills on the counter and started to walk off towards the door. "See you on the flip side though, professor. I'm sure we'll be getting to know each other real well in the future." He gave a wave of his hand and a candid smirk that did nothing but leave the older woman both baffled and irritated by his antics.

Kokonoe simmered in place for a bit before taking her snacks in her arm and muttering to the cashier to keep the change as she stomped towards the door with goodies in hand. That kid better hope he doesn't come crossing her path one of these days in school or so God help her will she give him the beat down of a lifetime. The last thing she needed was another unneeded fixture in her life, and it certainly wasn't gonna be some damn teenager.

It was without a doubt in her mind she was gonna scarf all these donuts down as soon as she got home.


	2. Black Stillness

Upon arriving to school the next day, Kokonoe was treated with a rather unwelcomed surprise when she tried setting up shop in her office.

It wasn't the chipper and ebullient vibe given off by Litchi's obnoxious presence or the suave, debonair, playboy wannabe that was Kagura's person. There wasn't even any paperwork on her desk that she hadn't already taken home that was waiting for her to find. Instead it was something else—a certain someone who barged into the only sanctuary she had in this godforsaken school who she resented above everyone else she knew in her entire life.

He stood next to her desk peering in a manilla folder while quietly placing paper after thin paper on the table, uncaring of the woman before him whose privacy he invaded until she bitterly called out his name.

"Relius..." She spat out as if it were the devil's name itself. "Mind telling me what you're doing in here?"

Relius said nothing and sifted through the folder a little more until he finally decided to peek at her from the rim of his glasses before "gracing" her with a response.

"Good morning to you as well, Professor." He said, cold eyes obscured by the thick glare reflecting off his spectacles. "I hope you are doing well."

"I was fine until you came along." She bit back. "What are you doing here?"

"Your track record is catching up with you, Professor Mercury." The older gentleman adjusted his tie and placed the last paper on her desk. "You have been dodging meetings left and right ever since you started here, and I am getting the impression you're not taking this job seriously."

"Lack of passion would be a better word for it." She replied.

"Well your lack of passion is going to make you ignorant of the situation that the Science Department is currently in." He pushed up his glasses and tucked the now empty folder under his arm. "It's best that you either listen to me or risk being fired for negligence if you don't heed my warning."

"Well. Alright then..." Kokonoe sighed as she dropped her bag on the floor. "Tell me why I should care."

This man, this very creature even, was a major reason why she wanted to leave the school so bad. He was head of the Science Department, and thus had a wide range of control over everyone and everything that worked under it, especially how the department itself operates and runs its affairs. Often times the decisions he made were strict and didn't make much sense in the grand scheme of things beyond fulfilling his own goals and the wishes of any superintendent that kept him at least partially in check, but other times, it was really just to piss her off.

To put it simply he was a dick.

Relius, as unreadable as usual, explained himself further "If you should know, we are going to be making some necessary budget cuts in order to focus more on other subjects in the department. Particularly forensics, botany, and agriculture. We have decided to take the most out of the chemistry and biology classes considering that has the most funding. I had only came here to relay the message to you."

"Wait, what!?" Kokonoe narrowed her eyes his way once she heard the news. "What kind of shit do you gain from cutting funds from  **my** classes!?"

No money for chemistry or biology meant limited resources, and limited resources meant a harder job, and a harder job meant a larger risk of her quitting the only job she managed to find after finishing university. Finding somewhere to work in this state with her credentials wouldn't be a problem for sure, but she needed the money and the time to get her shit together before establishing her career. She'd only be wasting more time looking for another job than she would be staying here for another school year, and that wasn't going to be a risk she'll be willing to take.

This fucker was really trying to mess with her.

"There is no gain, Professor Mercury." Relius said calmly. "Our objective is to give our other subjects more resources so that more students attend them."

"Why not just get rid of the classes then?" She retorted.

"That would take more than a year if we were to do anything like that. I am only doing what is best for the school." He walked past her in his usual gait of long strides and stiff posture and was about to reach for the door knob until Kokonoe inquired about his motives further.

"Is that all you came in here for? Not to tell me off or nothing?"

Relius merely looked behind him and gave a very candid response. "You're a good teacher. I thought it would be best to tell you what direction we are going in. That is...until you leave of course."

Kokonoe felt the corner of her mouth twitch and only turned around to hide her growing anger. He knew what he was doing, the fucker. He knew exactly what he was doing. If there was anything Relius was good at, it was being as deceptive as a rat, and he knew very well that she was capable of catching onto his games. Unpopular and under staffed classes such as agriculture and shit was exactly what the department wanted to get rid of for awhile now, but for some reason that bastard still wants to keep them. He always looked down on her by undermining her intellect since he was so conceded, but she was smart enough to know where all the extra money was really going to. That crook probably wanted to pocket some of the cash and send her out the door by doing this before restoring classes back to normal.

The younger woman brought a hand up to her face to rub the bridge of her nose and struggled to keep her composure. He left such a bad taste in her mouth whenever she saw him and the most she could do was either leave as fast as possible or kick his ass out for even trying to get smart around her. He was such a pompous, self-centered asshole.

"Thanks for telling me, I guess." She growled out. "But if you don't mind, I have work to do, and you being here is just going to interfere with that."

"Of course." He said, finally turning the knob of the door. "Be seeing you soon, Professor." Relius uttered, walking out into the hallway and slowly closing the door behind him.

Kokonoe simmered in place and sucked in her teeth. "Such a fucking asshole..." She cursed.

The rest of Kokonoe's day went on as average as per usual, in spite of the constant reminder of Relius' bullshit that plagued the back of her mind. She gave the classes who never had their midterm yet their tests, and let the other classes who completed their's fuck around while she graded all of their work. She had managed to get about half of her workload done by the time she had reached her seventh period class thanks to her efforts, but still couldn't shove the events of earlier out of her mind. Things seemed to be amounting to just another day of work and the usual disrespect that she got from her superiors, which she was use to, but was still a huge headache to deal with. At least she was less exasperated and more indifferent about her situation compared to earlier.

That was until she walked into her final class and saw what would ignite her fury one last time today.

There he sat in the front row, flipping through his phone while gawking at her with that same stupid, urbane look she wanted to slug right off his pretty face so much, running his hand through his hair and winking her way when she began staring right at him longer than a few seconds.

"Good afternoon..." She quietly said as she made her way to the teacher's desk. "I see that we have a new student here today." She murmured whilst glaring at Kagura. "Someone who doesn't belong here..."

Kagura feigned ignorance and looked around as if thinking it was someone else just to rile her up more.

"I think you know who I'm talking about, Mutsuki!"

The teenager raised a brow and shrugged. "Who me? Couldn't be."

"Who else would I be talking about then?"

"Someone else maybe?" He said back. "But it certainly ain't me. I transferred in here."

The revelation quickly caught Kokonoe off guard. "W-What?"

The scientist was at a loss for words. This late in the semester and so early after the first midterm? Unless he was fucking with her again, it would be impossible to switch classes until after the quarter was over, and even then it would take a few days to get him from whatever science class he was already taking to her's.

This whole situation sounded like another headache waiting to happen.

Kokonoe dropped her bag, books, and papers unceremoniously on the desk and marched out of the classroom to settle herself in the hallway before beckoning Kagura to follow with a curled finger.

"I need your ass out here now." She said through gritted teeth. "The rest of you, do whatever you want."

Kagura happily obliged and rose from his feet to catch up with his now "favorite" teacher who closed the door behind him as soon as he got in her face.

"Something the matter, Kokonoe?"

"Don't call me that!" She yelled. "You know damn well why I called you out here! If this is another joke, I swear to GOD, Kagura..."

He seemed to get a general hint at how she wasn't in high spirits and kept his story short. "Like I said before, teach. I got transferred in here this morning and I have the papers to prove it. Scout's honor." He held up his right hand for emphasis.

"But how did you so fast?"

"Well..." He put his finger to his chin and faked as if he was pondering her question. "It wasn't really that hard. My guidance counselor is easy to persuade apparently. I guess she knew how I didn't wanna spend another second away from you, Professor~"

"Please, you're gonna make me sick." She grimaced.

"Love sick, I hope."

Kokonoe scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine." She huffed. "I'll give you a rundown of what's expected of creeps like you, but don't say I didn't warn you." She rarely ever explained what it was her class consisted of to any new arrivals since barely anyone likes coming in here, so this would be a new experience.

"There isn't any piggybacking in here, and a lot of your tests will account for a majority of your final grade."

"I'll just study a lot then." Kagura said cockily.

She felt her lip curl into a contemptuous cat-like smirk once he uttered those words and continued.

"Not a lot of my kids pass on the first try, dumbass." She beamed. "You fail enough of 'em, or if you don't get your work in on time, you fail, and when you fail you're kicked out, and when you're kicked out, you're sent to remedial studies for summer school. Fair trade, don't you think?"

Unlike an average class, advanced classes had double the benefit of scholarly opportunity and rewards, but equal parts double the drawback. As opposed to regular classes where they just give you loads of second chances to boost a failing grade, advanced classes were designed to basically punish those who think they were smart enough to get into one in the first place. It was a fucked system, but it definitely had its advantages if it meant getting Kagura out of here quick enough.

The younger man however was still cheeky about the prospect.

"Aww, you tryin' to scare me, babe?" He teased. "That's real cute of you for trying, but it takes a lot to get me shakin' in my boots."

"I'm giving you a last minute warning. Don't blame me if you can't graduate this year."

"Warning, huh?" He let out a deep and throaty laugh. "I live for a little danger, and trust me, a few marks on a report card ain't gonna keep me away from here. Or you for that matter. Especially you."

"Jesus, you're persistent..." Kokonoe said in minor disgust and slapped a hand on her face. God must really be fucking with her now. Two bad run-ins in a row, and it wasn't even Thursday yet. What a week to be alive.

"You seem a little more high-strung than you should be though, Professor." He stated. "Something happen to you this morning?"

She opened the classroom door and shooed him inside. "It's none of your concern. Just go back in your seat."

Kagura gave her a weird look and lingered around the doorway briefly before going back to his desk.

As time passed, Kokonoe was at her desk and was left alone with the mess of papers she still needed to tend to whilst her students preoccupied themselves with their own devices. She worked in diligent silence while the kids chatted amongst themselves, all except for the miscreant who had practically invited himself into her room and was strangely silent for the most part. From what she observed from the view her seat gave her, he was pretty quiet and only kept to himself for the most part, probably because the crowd in here wasn't who he really socialized with, she assumed. Instead he only sat there and played with his phone and only his phone for awhile, but Kokonoe herself couldn't help but feel a pair of eyes on her each time she went back to grading her tests.

It wasn't glaringly obvious or unnerving at all, but it was annoying to the point that she winded up staring at him for a good few seconds to make sure he wasn't doing the same. But he just sat there. Doing absolutely nothing and saying absolutely nothing. She's only known him for a day, not counting their first encounter weeks ago, but this felt out of character for him to do, to stay so reserved and not try to embarrass. But there he was, not even paying an ounce of attention to her. Kokonoe hoped that maybe he's learned his place and would consider leaving her alone and perhaps even drop the class, but she can only wish for so much.

Too engrossed in her work and her own fear of Kagura's wandering eye, before she knew it, the final bell rang and in an instant everyone rose from their seats and gathered their things before leaving for the day. They all passed by the young scientist's desk, leaving their work and other past due assignments on the table before ushering themselves out the door, all except Kagura who only got up to stand over her smaller form and greet her.

"Hey."

Kokonoe sighed and peered up at him.

"Can you go home and fuck outta here already?"

"Not when you have such a glum look on your face."

So he was still on about her moodiness, huh? He never gives up.

"Like I said before, it isn't any of your business."

Kagura regarded her very briefly again with a mysterious mien she couldn't read before he gave her another one of his signature grins.

"When you say it like that, I can't help but think I can help in some way."

"Seriously, it's something you wouldn't care about."

"You'd be surprised." He came around her desk to stand at her left side and crouched down to meet her gaze, appearing genuinely curious about her problems like a humble gentleman and not like the shitty teenager he often made himself out to be. Kokonoe almost felt comfortable enough to tell him what the problem was with the way he was looking at her, but held her tongue considering how this was someone she literally just came to know yesterday.

He had a natural talent at making someone feel, for lack of a better word, "safe," she had to admit.

"You for real right now?"

Kagura nodded. "Doesn't hurt to have a shoulder to lean on."

"How do I know you're not trying to up your chances of getting your dick wet, huh?"

"Honestly, if it were any other girl, you wouldn't be  **all** wrong." He managed to chuckle. "But...from the moment I saw you, you looked...different. Like, I need to actually try my hand a few times at getting you to even notice me a  _little_. Guess you can say I can't help but listen just to listen."

She blinked at his words for a moment and awkwardly scratched her head. She was a good judge of character and scrutinized every bit of a person she either hated or at the very least tolerated to get a basic understanding of them, but she wasn't expecting this level of honesty from an otherwise, in her words, "filthy degenerate" who only seemed interested in getting in some girl's pants. It was refreshing in a way but also still so strange considering how it  **was**  Kagura. Just some punk who she would pay little if any mind to in any other given situation.

"Well, I... hm..." She stumbled on her words before managing to regain her composure. "Alright, I'll tell you, but you're out of your mind if you're even expecting my number in exchange, got that?"

The teen held up his hands as a silent gesture that he was conceding to her demands. "No ulterior motive, teach. Just lending an ear out to ya."

Kokonoe remained silent for a few seconds and stayed like that until she thought of the words to say.

"Considering how you're so new," She began. "You probably wouldn't know about him much. His name is Relius Clover and he's head of the Science Department. He's my dickhead of a boss."

Kagura took in the new info and motioned for her to continue.

"He never really cares about anyone excluding himself and doesn't have anything but disrespect and contempt for those under him. Myself especially." She adjusted her glasses and propped an elbow on her desk to stuff her cheek into her hand. "He undermines anything I say, wants me to leave before the school year even ends, and whenever I propose any idea that would at the very least improve any class, he waves me off to do Lord knows what."

"So dickhead boss who ignores you and the changes you wanna make." Kagura reiterated. "Sounds pretty typical."

The older woman let out a curt chortle through her nose. "Yeah, suppose so."

"Anything else happen?"

"Long story short, he wants to cut funds from some classes and apply it to ones that aren't as popular, but I'm more than positive he just wants to pocket some of the cash. And possibly get rid of me while he's at it..."

"I see..." Kagura chewed on his lower lip as he went over Kokonoe's words in his head. He seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments, his expression serious and gaze not holding the usual charm that always seemed to shine in his dark eyes. He looked rather calculating. Focused even, and maybe even a little attractive, dare she say.

Wait, she didn't just think that in her head, right?

It was then that Kagura rose from his spot on the floor and scanned Kokonoe's face with a peculiar eye that he was quick to fix once he saw her. It was brief and very much a "blink and you'll miss it moment," but she could've sworn she saw something weird come off that frown he had on his face. She didn't know what, but it was something.

"Alright then..." The young man brushed off his jeans before continuing. "So you got a lot on your plate as is and nothing is making it easier. I can see where the frustration lies."

"So insightful." She replied sarcastically. "So now you know the whole story. Told you it was something you wouldn't care about."

"Something I wouldn't care about? On the contrary, Professor." He stuffed one hand in his pocket and placed the other one on her shoulder. "Your problem can be my problem." He squeezed lightly which prompted Kokonoe to both raise a brow and glower at how he touched her.

"What can you even do? You're just a kid." She shook his hand off and frowned. "I'll just have to tough it out is all. You don't need to make promises you can't keep."

"You look unsure about that."

"I'm not "unsure". I know for a fact you can't."

He narrowed his eyes at that and leered at the older woman, as if trying to decipher her very emotional state right now.

She thought his gaze was a tad odd.

"You okay?" She asked.

Kagura stayed like that for a bit before shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck stiffly whilst smiling assuredly at her.

"Oh don't worry about me, just thinking is all." He then turned on his heel and walked towards the classroom door, waving his other hand over his shoulder to give her a curt goodbye. "I was just foolin' with ya and all. I can do a lot, but I can't do everything."

Kokonoe was thinking his departure was rather sudden.

"H-Hey, where are you going?"

"Just headin' home for the day." He replied. "You look like you need the alone time. I've been around enough girls to know when to leave 'em be." He was about to head out the door but stopped to look back at her. "Just one thing though..."

"What is it?"

Kagura's mouth stretched from ear to ear while his eyes darkened just a tad when he saw her own lock with his.

"Everything is gonna be okay." He simply said.

The scientist watched him walk out into the hallway and close the door behind him as soon as he uttered those words and could barely make a sentence form in her head as she mulled over his actions. Just what the hell was that? Kagura wasn't someone she would call weird at all. Maybe annoying, but not at all freaky. She wanted to think that perhaps she didn't really know him all that well yet considering how she barely knew him, but even then anyone just walking out and saying something so ominous was a peculiar thing for someone to do. She was tempted to catch up with him just so he could explain what he meant, but he was probably making it down to the dismissal area by now. It wasn't important enough for her to address him about it now, but she certainly will when class ends tomorrow.

Furrowing her brows, Kokonoe quickly casted the thought out of her head and started packing up her things, making a point to be fast about it as she didn't want to be caught by Relius or Litchi right now and just wanted to go home with little interaction from anyone else today. She just wanted to take a break from working on so many things at once and take a long nap once she arrived at her abode.

Today was just a little too draining for her liking.

* * *

In the day that followed, everything in the school felt strangely quiet yet very relaxed.

In fact it wasn't just a feeling—everything just looked dead.

The teachers and students that roamed the busy halls were rushing to get to class as usual, but their faces, general gait, and the shimmer in their eyes seemed...unusual. They dragged their feet across the floor instead of actually walking while their arms fell limply at their sides instead of swinging and moving about like how she was usually use to seeing. It all felt very surreal and slightly off-putting to Kokonoe, who likened the behavior to zombies. Was she just seeing things? Did she finally fall off the deep end and was just imagining all of this?

Kokonoe ran a hand through her straightened locks before bonking her head with a closed fist. Pull yourself together, she thought to herself. Perhaps it was just seasonal depression or something like that. It was November and late in the month, so it's been cold and especially rainy, which was enough to drag a lot of people's moods down because of it. Nothing like a few cups sweet coffee and sweets to cheer her up since she liked rain, but the everything and everyone looked infectiously depressing.

Despite her attempts at trying to rationalize the situation in her head, Kokonoe was still visibly unnerved by the sights around her, and taught classes as she would normally.

Upon coming to her last period class once again however, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

All the students sat at their desks as they usually did, but with gloomy, unchanging faces and backs hunched over at awkward angles, as if they were literally glued to their seats and had no control over the way their heads were held. Not a one had even bothered to swivel in place to greet her nor address her with a half assed "welcome" like she was always use to. Just cold, dead, pin drop silence.

She felt her stomach flip at that and pondered whether or not to even move from the doorway until she forced a mumbled salutation from her throat.

"G-Good morning..." She quietly said, her voice cutting through the stillness like a hot knife.

What she saw next had left her effectively speechless.

Left and right, from the first row to the last, all of the kids in the room had slowly turned their heads, and only their heads, her way at the same time. Their necks cracked and popped when they did so, forcing the bones keeping their skulls leveled to break the more they made themselves look her way from their unsightly positions which only managed to frighten Kokonoe more and make her take one step back when she saw the way they all stared at her. Swollen, sunken eyes as black as night and as listless as a corpse's peered into her own as if they were all dead the minute she walked in here, which made her pulse jump and her heart beat into her throat.

She needed to run.

Without even bothering to look back, Kokonoe sprinted away from the classroom and ran to the nearest shortcut she saw in the hallway to dash upstairs into her office and grab her keys to leave this godforsaken school. She shoved and pushed past all of the torpid, languid masses who got in her way and went as fast as her legs could allow. Everyone here was either dead, half-dead, or was fortunate enough to be alive but was too stupid to notice. She didn't know what was going on or why it was that shit this improbable was happening, but she was too scatterbrained at the moment to be logical right now. She was too focused on staying alive and driving as far away from here as possible.

Upon seeing a corner she regularly passed by to get to her office, Kokonoe made a sharp turn and tried bounding for the door at the other end of the hall, but tripped as soon as she placed her foot on the ground and fell flat on her stomach. She groaned bitterly at her sudden clumsiness and shakily tried rising from her spot by planting a firm hand on the floor, but instantly stopped moving when she heard a noise next to her.

She stayed firmly in her spot and only turned her head to the side see what it was.

It was a door slightly left ajar, and behind it was nothing but pitch blackness and what sounded like the ragged gasps of a grown man. She was too shakened to even want to peer behind that dark room and witness whatever horrors laid before her, and was even willing to crawl her way to the otherside of the building if it meant making it out on time until she heard someone talking.

It was a voice she was now way too familiar with.

"Man...seeing you like this, all hunched over and struggling, she's really gonna love me for this..."

It was Kagura's.

And it sounded unsettlingly calm.

"You people really don't know what you have...what you're taking for granted..."

Kokonoe shakily peered up at the wooden namecard that hung below the clouded mirror of the door and gasped when she saw the name that was there.

Relius Clover, it read.

This was his office, and Kagura was in there.

Oh shit...

The scientist swallowed the growing lump in her throat and slowly padded across the floor to look into the crack of the door. It was all so dark minus a few candles that illuminated certain parts of the room until her vision adjusted enough to see two moving bodies within, one standing in front of a desk with a phone in its hand while the other sat in a chair, hands bounded and taped around a blade that it held dangerously close to its neck.

Kokonoe quickly clapped a hand over her mouth and resisted the urge to make a sound.

She watched what looked like Kagura scroll through his phone, the lit screen showing his face and the pictures within that made her squirm a little in her seat when she saw them. It was far away and certainly not the clearest, but even from a distance she could see what it was that he was looking at with such longing adoration, and honestly could not help but feel sick to her stomach. They were all pictures of her, some of them taken at school, some in public, and hell, even some from her own damn house in either innocuous positions or ones of her in less than appropriate scenarios. It somehow made her feel even worse in the gut than before and nearly compelled her to hack up her breakfast due to how disgusted she was by his behavior, but kept her food down to avoid being caught red handed. She had to sit through this, at least long enough to see whatever the fuck it is he had planned for Relius.

Kagura walked over to the man struggling to move any part of his body and showed him what looked like a picture of her sleeping in bed.

"Just look at that..." He said dreamily while putting an arm around Relius' shoulder. "Just a beaut, isn't she? Prettiest girl a bastard could ever lay their eyes on." She watched him stroke the screen with his thumb and went on. "I'd do anything for that... Hell, I'd kill for her if need be. It's a shame people like you can't appreciate such a fine thing that piece of ass is. Oh well..." He grabbed Relius by the back of his shirt and hoisted him up on his feet before walking back to his spot on the floor. "More for me then~" He simpered.

It was so dark she couldn't make out anything beyond Relius' body, but she can certainly hear the grunts he was making. It sounded like his mouth was gagged while the rest of him was free except for his hands. Not one to show weakness, all the noises he made were more angered and annoyed than any sort of fear, but she was sure that was going to change soon once Kagura was done doing whatever the hell it was he had in mind for him.

The teenager's eyes lingered on his phone for a few short seconds before he finally stuffed it in his pocket to stare at Relius and issue out a command.

"Tilt your head back." He suddenly said.

Relius almost instantly did so, his head twitching spastically as if trying to resist whatever force was making him do it.

"Bring your arms forward."

His limbs jutted so violently in front of him that Relius himself was nearly thrown over the desk from how quick and hard he lunged his arms towards the younger man. It shook Kokonoe to her core, but she knew to remain where she was. It was almost as if Kagura were controlling his movements in a way, which seemed farfetched to her to begin with until she heard it.

The knife shook and quaked when he commanded him again.

"Put it in your neck."

That's when she knew that she had to put an end to this.

She swung the door open with a quivering hand and lunged towards Kagura's person, beating his back with her fists at a desperate attempt at trying to stop him.

"K-Kagura, cut it out already!" She screamed.

The teenager was at first surprised at the sudden weight on his back and the feminine voice that called out to him, but kept his cool throughout the ordeal.

"So...you made it up here earlier than what I would've liked..." He whispered. "I thought you would still be teaching class."

"Nevermind that, you fucker!" Kokonoe forced him to turn around and look at her, too many questions and too many answers clouding her mind as she struggled to understand what was happening. "What the hell is this...!? What did you do to Relius...to the school, to...to everything!?"

Kagura said nothing and only made Relius bring the knife closer to his neck which Kokonoe saw over the younger man's shoulder.

"Stop it already, dammit! You don't need to kill him! Just tell me what you're doing!"

He gave an airy laugh that was as slick as honey but laced with so much poison, she nearly cringed at how awfully sinister and yet so relaxed it sounded.

"You're looking at me as if I'm doing something wrong." He said innocently. "I'm just trying to make you happy. Fixing the school for you was gonna be the first step."

"W-What...!?"

"It's a lot to take in, I know." He explained. "I'll tell you everything once I'm through with this asshole though."

"I said don't kill him!" She shouted again.

Kagura looked confused for a second but soon gave the older woman a very sadistic smile.

"I don't get why you're even bothering to waste your time with this guy." He teased her further by making it so that the tip of the blade was pressed lightly against Relius' neck. "Didn't you tell me yesterday that he treats you like shit and doesn't care about what happens to you? Scum like him shouldn't have the gall to boss you around like that."

"You...You..." Kokonoe was at a complete loss for words. So this was what Kagura meant by "making things okay". By making the school into half-dead, lethargic corpses and killing off the man she hated most. She never believed in anything supernatural or spiritual in the many years she's been on this Earth, but this was really fucking up her perception of it all now. She wanted to close her eyes and tell herself it was all some crazy dream brought on by eating too many sweets before bed, but no matter how much she tried ignoring or forcing herself to "wake up" from this nightmare, all she was met with was that dark, sinister sneer that was plastered on that boy's face. He looked ruthless, damn near demonic even, and she was left quite literally aphonic by it all, and she didn't know how to process it. Kokonoe could only stand there in utter horror of what it was that Kagura was capable of and felt her words catch up in her throat, effectively paralyzed by the sheer thought of what it was this kid was capable of.

Kagura took it upon himself to take advantage of her stupor however.

"Aw, I leave you speechless, babe?"

Barely able to catch it in time, Kokonoe watched the teenager bring his arm around her petite frame roughly and carried her under his arm to face the man still at his mercy. He looked just as puzzled and frightened as she did if not worse since his life was on the line. For a moment she began to feel a little guilty about all the shit she said about him, but it was only slight and being superseded by her concern for her own wellbeing.

"I'll give you a front row seat then."

"Let go...! Let me GO!" She struggled in his grasp and tried wiggling out from his tight hold but he was way too strong. Kagura laughed at that and held her tighter before manipulating Relius again by uttering another command.

"Now..." He raised his hand and smiled at the display that was Kokonoe's boss. " **Put it in your neck**."

The way Relius tried resisting the demand was horrific to witness to say the least. Sweat beaded from his forehead while his hands shakily kept trying to pull the still moving knife away from his skin, but was met with no avail and left at the mercy of Kagura's control.

Kokonoe struggled to watch the brutality of it all.

His breath hitched when he slowly began plunging the knife deep into his throat, the blade sinking into his neck like butter and allowing the blood from within to seep from his wound and run down his neck in thick rivulets. Relius sputtered and choked, coughing and wheezing as that same red fluid soon came gushing out his mouth and soaked the rag that it was stuffed with, Kagura happy to watch the ruthless sight while Kokonoe looked down at the wood floor so as not to bare witness to it. Instead she watched the viscous red streams from above fall to his feet and soak through the floor, her body shivering from the overwhelming fear that was beginning to well up in her chest and the constricting way Kagura held onto her.

"You know..." The teenager said as he guided Relius to slash the knife across his neck by moving his fingers. "This always seems to happen every time I come to a new school. Someone acts like a total pain in my ass and I always gotta put 'em in their place." Kagura licked his lips at the way the jagged weapon ripped through the older man's neck by cutting through veins and breaking through bone while leaving a gaping hole in its wake. "But this time felt a lot different...in a good way. This feels personal on a way deeper level..."

Kokonoe said nothing and only stared wide eyed at the ever growing puddle forming in front of her.

"You're so, so different. I felt I needed to protect you." He continued. "I was never able to settle down with a girl. With so many chicks in the world I could have, it felt too easy. But when I saw you, with that fire in your eyes, beaming with so much energy, I knew I wanted you. I needed you, rather. I tried getting your attention, but you never noticed me... Never cared to..." He closed his fist tightly at that, making Relius' hand literally  _tear_ through the rest of his neck with a mighty jolt that sent a fresh spray of blood to splatter on Kagura who seemed unfazed by it and Kokonoe who was momentarily brought back from her state of horror to reality once again because of it. She then heard Relius quickly stumble to the floor, his knees hitting the wood loudly before he finally crumpled on his side and into the pool of crimson below him, his body twitching and the last of his gasps leaving him as a noisy rattle through the gash in his neck until the room grew quiet once more.

"But I forgive you for that..." Kagura suddenly said, his grip loosening just enough on her to cradle her in his large arms. She looked deeply into his eyes, her blank pools of gold taking in the hidden madness that now swirled in his violet depths. "It ain't your fault, and who am I to stay mad at you? I was just so pissed, so upset that you could never give me the time of day. Not being able to see you hurt me, babe, so I did the next best thing... "

"Shut up..." She pleaded. It was barely audible, so much so that she was sure Kagura himself couldn't hear it, but she was so out of her mind right now, she couldn't even stand to hear the sound of her own  _voice_.

"I took so many pictures and followed you as much as I could. I loved seeing you so vulnerable, I almost wanted to eat you up right there, but I knew I had to be patient, and lo and behold, here we are... A couple chats and a few possessions later, already makin' memories and already sharing kills. We make such a good team~" He brought her closer to his chest and held her there to embrace her, the smell of his cologne offensive to her nose and making her want to retch. "The school is probably dead by now, which is good. You don't need this place, much like how they don't deserve you. I got a better life waiting for ya, back at home, babe... Promise. Everything you want from a bigger career to a bigger salary, I'll give it to you."

"Shut up..." She said a little louder. "Shut up...!"

"My folks won't be too glad I ruined another school, but damn... bringing you home is really gonna help get their mind off of it. Maybe while we're there, we can get right down to how you'll be thanking me for this~" He growled lasciviously and moved his head back to look at her pouty lips. "And I think I have just the thing in mind..."

Kokonoe felt a chord snap in her brain and life rush back into her body when he even suggested the idea of spending a life together, and reeled her head back to spit in his face in rage—her spittle hitting him square the eye and dribbling down his cheek.

"YOU COCKSUCKER! YOU MONSTER!" She screamed from the top of her lungs and writhed frantically against his chest. "I HATE YOU! I CAN'T  **STAND**  YOU! I SHOULD'VE NEVER GIVEN YOU THE TIME OF DAY, YOU LYING SACK OF SH-MPH!"

Kagura clasped a hand over her running mouth before slamming her back down on a carpeted area of the floor so as not to hurt her, his expression unchanging as he proceeded to pin her beneath his body and chuckle at her irate demeanor.

"So  **nooow**  you wanna talk... Not when we shared such an important moment together, but now of all times." He wiped the wetness on his eye with the backs of his fingers. "And you say all this mean shit. I get that crap a lot, that I'm a monster, a demon, subhuman, yadda yadda, the list goes on and on...But when it's coming from your mouth," Kagura kissed and licked at the spots where he touched Kokonoe's spit and grinned. "Oh man... It's so, soooo fuckin' hot..."

The scientist growled and struggled under his heavy build by trying to kick and punch her way out from under him, determined to slaughter him if it meant getting herself killed in the meantime.

"That's why I love ya so much, Koko, baby." The teenager chanted something quick under his breath that rendered Kokonoe instantly motionless, her limbs falling stiffly in place at her sides while her mouth closed together firmly. She tried lifting anything from her fingers, to her toes and even her lips but was left with nothing but dead weight keeping her entire body down. "You got spunk. For any witch, that's the best thing you could ever want from a woman." He grinned madly. "However, that energy you got can easily go to something way better. We don't want you wasting it just yet before you meet my parents~"

A witch? That's how he was able to do all of this?

He was a goddamn  **witch**?

Her mouth, stuck together and unable to make any noise beyond labored pants and breaths, Kokonoe could only groan in distress at her inability to move even her neck and peered up at Kagura threateningly despite the bitterly cold sensation of panic that was riding down her spine. He actually  **was**  a monster. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Something lower than scum. Lord knows what he might due to her now, and fuck was it anxiety inducing the situation she was in. He seemed content and even euphoric at her struggle and slapped his hands over her hips to bring her forward before tilting his head happily.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, babe. I may be a little "gifted" to say the least, but I'd never forgive myself if I laid a finger on you with it." He pulled her even further towards him to scoop her up in his arms by her legs and throw her over his right shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "You're so cute when you're all scared shitless like this though. You try to hide it so much, but I can practically  _smell_  how fucking petrified you are. It's a good look for you~"

The scientist groaned as loud as she could, her muffled screams bordering between distress and literal rage as Kagura casually began carrying her out of the room and into the empty hallway. She continued making as much noise as she could, hoping and hoping, again and again in desperation that someone would come to her aid, but was met with nothing except for the boastful laughs that left Kagura each time she tried. This had gone on and on and on for what felt like hours of nothing but calling for help, her throat growing sore and more hoarse from her efforts and until she eventually began to peter out, the pain too great for her to go on any longer. She instead began humming to herself in defeat, her sealed lips quivering as she swallowed the urge to cry and closed her eyes shut to spare herself the embarrassment of letting her pride shatter. There was nothing to do but hang there and take it. Nothing to do but stare at the many bodies that now littered the hallways and the visceral remains that Kagura stepped into so heartlessly until they finally arrived outside. She made not a sound, not a lick of noise, and only listened to Kagura's words as he held her thighs to secure her and chant another spell.

"You're not gonna miss this life you had." Kagura declared, as if the statement in of itself was a matter of law. "I'll spoil you so much, you'll never remember how shit it was to live with humans." He patted the back of her leg comfortingly which did nothing but make her want to kick in reflex. "I love you, and sooner or later, you're gonna love me, too.  **Whether you like it or not**."

Kokonoe, exhausted, closed her eyes one final time, unable to look at anything else but the obsidian void of her unconscious mind than the world itself and fell into a deep slumber, the last thing she heard being the snap of Kagura's fingers along with the feeling of a very warm sensation wash over her being as she was spirited away to whatever hell waited for her on the other side.

This time she really did hope that she never woke up.


End file.
